Amos 5:19

"As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?"

The word "or" in the above could likewise be translated "and," according to McKeating, thus making all of the actions consecutive, thus:

"Running from a lion, he meets a bear. In even greater panic, he reaches the shelter of his house. A snake strikes him from a crevice in the wall."[44]

However it may be translated, the passage clearly teaches that there shall be no possibility of escape from the adverse judgment of God upon human wickedness.

It must not be thought that Israel was totally wrong about the judgment day, for they were profoundly correct about two things: (1) there would indeed be such a day, and (2) it would also be a time of deliverance, joy and utmost felicity for the true Israel. Whatever their sources of this information, they were accurate in these important elements of the doctrine; and we have no alternative except to conclude that one or more of their prophets had conveyed to them the mind of God regarding such matters. There was only one flaw in the people's thinking; they had made a mistake about who were the true Israel, that not being themselves at all with their stubborn and impenitent wickedness, but the spiritual seed of Abraham, those of Abraham's obedient faith and righteous disposition! Butler is correct in viewing Amos' words here as typical and prophetic of the final Day, the Great Assize, at which time God through Jesus Christ shall judge the whole word in righteousness.

"The truth of the matter was, the Day of the Lord would be a day of deliverance, but only for the true Israel, those who were Jews inwardly and not Jews only outwardly; for the Day of the Lord of which Amos speaks is' typical and prophetic of the climactic Day of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah."[45]

The illustration of the man fleeing from the lion and the bear and finally gaining the shelter of his home, only to be bitten to death by a serpent in the very place of his imagined security is one of the most forceful in the Bible. Howard commented that:

"The death he thought he would escape awaited him at his own house. Thus it was to be for Israel, there would be no escape; the day of Yahweh would be a day of gloom and darkness in which there would be no relieving feature for the rebellious house of Israel."[46]

Our own summary of these three verses is simply that the "day of the Lord" was to be bad news for Israel; and the great corollary of that is that it will be likewise "bad news" for the entire race of sinful and rebellious men. The entire Book of Revelation might be interpreted as an extended commentary and revelation regarding this very passage in Amos. The theme of Revelation is "the judgment" of the great Day; and all of the figures that describe the onset of that occasion (of which there are seven) are those depicting unalloyed terror, slaughter, destruction, and sorrow for the near-total family of Adam who may live at the time it occurs. Just one passage from Revelation is sufficient (of thirty that might be cited) to show how it will be for humanity at the judgment, Amos 6:12-17.

One other thing should be noted. Those in Israel who longed for the day of the Lord were apparently sincere, but sincerely mistaken. However, Barnes pointed out another class who pretend to long for the coming of the Lord. They are today professed Christians - hypocrites:

"Who in order to appear righteous before men, are wont to long for the Judgement Day, and to say, `Would that the Lord would come; would that we might be dissolved and be with Christ,' imitating the Pharisee who said, `God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are!"[47]